


How It Hurts

by XxPainthearthXx



Category: Aitsu no Daihonmei | His Most Favorite
Genre: Angst, Assault, Bullying, Established Relationship, M/M, Romance, Verbal Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:41:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24690967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XxPainthearthXx/pseuds/XxPainthearthXx
Summary: I never thought they would go this far to hurt me. I should’ve seen it though. It’s not like they ever tried to hide their distaste from me. If Nishida hadn’t been there to take a punch in the face, I would’ve received more than a few scrapes from running through the bushes.They’ve gotten physical before, pushing me out of the way, a shove to the floor. Satou always laughed at their antics, because he’s a sadist, and apparently me getting harassed by the girls is hilarious. But he’s never noticed the bruises before. I don’t know if things would change if he did. I wonder how he’d react if he saw my beaten form now. I was so naive. I never thought they’d go this far to hurt me.
Relationships: Satou Takahiko/Yoshida Yoshio
Comments: 3
Kudos: 49





	1. Damaged

**Author's Note:**

> This story is based before they came out in Volume 7.

Yoshida was working outside, at the back of the school, on cleaning duty when three girls cornered him. They were taller and older than the girls who usually harassed him, since they were going to graduate this year. Maybe that’s why they were more confident and fearless when they approached him. As they didn’t yell insults from a distance as his back was against the wall. 

Instead, they grabbed him from the wall he was leaning against, and collectively dragged him into the warehouse. Then they roughly threw him to the ground, where he landed hard on his back. 

He didn’t get a chance to protest or ask what was going on, before one of the girls started kicking him in the stomach. She was laughing cruelly as he curled up into a ball, instinctively trying to protect himself. Another girl noticed that his arms had subconsciously raised up to protect his head. 

She stepped on his bruised stomach and leaned forward to say, “Don’t bother protecting your face. We don’t need to damage it. You’re ugly enough as is.” 

Then she spit on him, making him cringe away from it, and the disgust in her voice. She began kicking him in the side as he curled up in a fetal position. Yoshida doesn’t know how long she repeatedly kicked him, but it was enough for the pain to overwhelm him, and make him feel somewhat numb from it. 

The third girl, who watched amused on the sidelines, got an idea and said, “Let's humiliate him. Take off his clothes!” she suggested with glee.

Yoshida barely found his voice to protest, “N-no!”

He struggled and tried to escape, but it was no use. He couldn’t avoid the three pairs of hands that were tugging and ripping at his clothes. By the end, he was left with just his boxers and his shame. That’s when their insults began to attack him. 

“You’re DISGUSTING!” 

“How can Satou stand to be around you?!?” 

“You’re just a scrawny monkey, who keeps up the antics, so Satou will pay attention to you!” 

“Why do you think Satou is around you?! He thinks an ugly clown like you is hilarious! He feels bad for you!!!” 

Yoshida tries to block it out. “Don’t listen! It’s not true! It’s NOT TRUE!” he thinks desperately. 

All the insecurities he constantly tries to suppress come to the surface, and make it easier for him to believe the girls are right about his reality. Yoshida’s curled up on his side, trembling profusely. His head is turned to the side to avoid their gaze, but he can still see their ominous shadows creeping towards him. As if they have created a darkness that they’re trying to envelop and destroy him in. He can’t stop the fear, and the self-hatred from eating him from the inside out. Nor can he ignore the tears prickling behind his closed eyelids. 

He is vaguely aware that the girls are still shouting insults from above, but he’s blocking them out. He’s too numb to focus on the words meant to hurt him. He’s already so hurt, it takes all of his effort to just breathe. His body aches and screams in pain from being stepped on and repeatedly kicked. His back is protesting the fetal position he’s put himself in, to try and make himself as small as possible. There are scratches covering multiple sections of his body. They sting from their nails scraping at him, when they tore off his clothes and dragged him to the warehouse. Where he’s now laying exposed, half-broken, and wondering when or if he can leave this hell.


	2. Save Me

Nishida was walking around on his lunch break, when his senses alerted him that somebody needed help. He sighed in disappointment, as he was hoping to find Yoshida and hang out with him. Maybe give him a hug, if Yoshida would ever let him. His senses lead him behind the school, where he looks around to find nobody in sight. 

“Strange, I thought there were others on cleaning duty,” he thinks. 

Standing in the empty yard, he wonders if he got the location wrong. But immediately dismisses the thought. Even with no problem in sight, he gets the feeling that there’s something off. He decides to try and focus, so he closes his eyes, and focuses on the feeling that always leads him to helping an animal or person in need. Keeping his eyes closed, he slowly starts walking in the direction that feels right. 

The further he walks, the more ominous and disturbed he feels. He’s jolted from his concentration when he trips on an object, which makes a sharp clink sound. His eyes snap open and he uses his quick reflexes to stop himself from falling. Looking down, he sees the rake that he tripped on and kicked into another. He’s standing among three rakes, which are all grouped close together. Then he instantly spots another rake laying further away, alone. He comes to the conclusion that four people were working out here, and are now missing. 

Looking up he sees that he’s in front of the warehouse, where all the miscellaneous school supplies are stored. He tries to open the door, but there seems to be something blocking it. He starts putting more force into his pushing, rattling the door. 

In the warehouse, the three girls stop their constant stream of insults at the sound of someone trying to get in. They watch as the shelf they put in front of the door, is slowly being pushed forward. 

“SHIT!” one of them exclaims.

In fear of getting caught one whispers, “Let’s get out of here!”

They all quickly run through the backdoor, abandoning Yoshida on the floor. Nishida continues pushing the shelf and with one final shove, it tips over with a loud BAM. He walks into the warehouse and is shocked by what he sees. There is Yoshida’s beaten form; curled up, laying on the ground, and bare except for his boxers. 

Nishida rushes to him and kneels, “Oh my god, what happened to you?!” he exclaims, horrified. 

He helps Yoshida’s trembling form sit up and wraps his jacket around him. Yoshida weakly grabs the collar to keep it around himself, covering most of himself since it's too large for him. Nishida is concerned as he watches Yoshida silently trembling and keeping his eyes clenched tight. Nishida reaches out his hand to comfort him, but when he makes contact, Yoshida ends up flinching away violently. 

“What do you need?” Nishida asks, trying to help. 

Yoshida whispers and stutters, “S-satou…” 

Nishida feels hurt, but quickly stands up and starts running to go get him. As he runs around looking for Satou, he tries to ignore the ache he feels from what he would call another rejection. Because right now, he’s trying to retrieve another guy to comfort Yoshida instead of him. Since he cares about Yoshida, he reminds himself that Yoshida’s feelings come first. Yoshida’s suffering and hurting, so if he needs Satou to help him, then that's who he’ll get. Finally, he comes across Satou in the hallway, surrounded by a group of girls. 

He rushes over, and the second they make eye contact, Satou glares at him and asks,  
“What do you want?” 

Panting from the run, he tries to get his words out and manages,”The girls... Yoshida’s hurt.” His face looking desperately at Satou to go to his aid. 

The girls all glare in response, while Nishida gathers the courage to glare back. Satou’s heart starts racing and his worry causes him to frown deeply. 

“Where?!” Satou demands. 

“Warehouse,” he states, still slightly panting. 

With the knowledge of Yoshida’s location, Satou quickly leaves the group of girls behind. He runs through the halls towards his lover as anger and worry fight for dominance inside him. Fearing what state he’ll find Yoshida in. 

The girls are angry as they watch Satou go, but are unable to follow as Nishida is blocking their path. Lightly shoving back any girl who tries to pass. He tries to reason with them, but they all just screech and shout insults at him. He continues to stand his ground and has flashbacks of the first time he sacrificed himself to save Yoshida. 

After the girls exhausted themselves running angrily after Yoshida, he offered to be their punching bag, so they’d leave Yoshida alone. They walked away after relieving their stress and then he confessed to him. Despite being punched in the face, it was a nice day, because he still thought he had a chance for Yoshida to return his feelings. 

Since Yoshida chose Satou, he will still love him, but from afar. If he could’ve taken the beating Yoshida got today, he would’ve traded with him in a heartbeat. Despite the fact, the girls shouldn’t be hitting anyone in the first place. 

Thinking about it, Nishida comes to the conclusion that the girls at the school are constantly violent and should be stopped. Mainly for Yoshida’s sake. They’ve chased him, they push him aside daily, and today a group of them assaulted him. It’s unacceptable. 

“It’s time somebody does something about it,” Nishida thinks with a determined face. 

Nishida tunes out their verbal abuse and starts making a plan of how he’s going to try and protect Yoshida from the sidelines. 

He thinks to himself, “Nobody will touch you again, I swear it.” 

Satou quickly arrives at the warehouse and doesn’t slow down when he gets to the door. He bursts through it looking as frantic as he feels. To his relief he sees Yoshida, who is on the ground with Nishida’s large jacket enveloping him and his head down. 

He sees Yoshida’s bruises and suppresses his anger to gently ask, “Yoshida?” 

Then he goes to kneel down on the ground in front of him. Yoshida is continuously trembling and is unresponsive. After a few moments, he startles Satou by grabbing his sleeve with a desperate grip. Satou responds by pulling him into a hug. There is silence for a minute before Yoshida’s shaking increases and tears start soaking Satou’s shirt, where his face is buried. Barely audible to Satou’s ears is the sound of Yoshida whimpering. 

Normally, these vulnerable whimpers would cause Satou to shiver in sadistic pleasure. Like when he forced him to watch a horror film with him. But it’s different this time, because Yoshida is genuinely hurt. 

Yoshida is the most important person to Satou. He used to live a life where all he knew was cruelty and sharp teeth laughing at his misfortune. When how much he weighed on a scale, revealed how much love he deserved. And based on his family and his peers, he didn’t deserve any. He became numb from the pain, to the point where even that wasn’t interesting. Even he lost interest in his own well-being. No one cared, including himself. He was in elementary school, where life should’ve been fun and bright. But it wasn’t. It was cold, lonely, and gray. Until one day, that changed. 

It was another typical day for Satou. Being mercilessly bullied by his peers with different kinds of methods. That day they chose to dump water on him. Making fun of his tears, that came out reflexively and not with emotion. 

On cue, Yoshida came into the scene trying to stop them and save him again, although Satou was apathetic to his own torment. He continued to feel nothing but some irritation as he watched Yoshida struggle with his friend. There was a brief tug of war between them with the bucket and shouts for them to stop. Stop, because somebody could get hurt. In the end, somebody did get hurt and it wasn’t Satou for once. 

As Satou watched his savior fall face first onto a rock, all he could see and feel was RED. Blood dripping down Yoshida’s face brought in emotions that he had been lacking in his life. First, resentment towards himself for being the reason Yoshida got hurt. For being the one protected and never showing gratitude for it. Second, he felt less alone because of Yoshida’s actions. It showed that he mattered to someone and it was something he always longed for, but told himself he didn’t need. The last and most important emotion it brought out in him, that he didn’t recognize until he was a teen, was love. 

If anyone asks, “Satou, who is your favorite?” 

The answer has been and always will be Yoshida.

As Satou helps put Yoshida’s pants back on over his beaten form, he has to suppress his anger and urge to punch something. Or more like someone. He leaves Yoshida’s shirt on the ground as it is useless and completely torn, as well as his jacket. Satou takes off Nishida’s jacket and swaps it with his own. He helps guide Yoshida’s arms into the sleeves. Yoshida tries to button it up with trembling fingers, until Satou gently pulls his hands out of the way, so he can do it instead. Satou puts on Yoshida’s shoes last, although he has no intention of letting Yoshida take a single step. He gently scoops up Yoshida in his arms, who immediately clenches his hand in the fabric of Satou’s shirt. Yoshida hides his face in Satou’s neck as they leave the shed that Yoshida desperately wanted to escape. 

As Satou walks in the direction of Yoshida’s house, he hears Yoshida let out a moan of pain that he couldn’t hold in. The inevitable jostling that comes from being carried is bringing more attention to his injuries. But at least it’s better than walking. The moan of pain triggers Satou into thinking that he should stop by a pharmacy to get some supplies. Thankfully, it’s along the way and soon they arrive. Satou sets Yoshida down on a bench, but is unable to walk away as Yoshida won’t let go of his shirt. He tries to reassure him that he’ll return. 

“I’ll be right back, I promise.” Satou says, then kisses him lightly on the forehead. 

Yoshida stays silent and unmoving. Satou tries to think of something else to say to help Yoshida let go. But he doesn’t need to, because Yoshida does it himself. Although, reluctant and not without a few whimpers coming out. Satou rewards him with another kiss to the forehead. 

As he turns and walks away from his lover, he aches to return to his side. He speeds up his walk and vows to go in and out of the store as quickly as he can. Satou grabs whatever he thinks is necessary. Bandages, some pain relievers pills, a water bottle, and some ointment to put on his injuries to dull the pain. 

As he rushes to the register, he quickly becomes frustrated with the girl checking him out. Who’s checking him out in more ways than one. She’s taking her damn time scanning his items, ogling him, and offering deals that he’s certain she shouldn’t be. Flirting and batting her eyelashes in a way that just makes her look like something got in her eye. 

When she finishes scanning, Satou growls out, “I don’t have time for this!” 

He throws money on the counter and tells her to keep the change. She shouts at him to come back, but he is already halfway out the door. He doesn’t want to waste another moment on her, when his hurt lover is outside in need. 

Satou is relieved to see Yoshida is right where he left him. Yoshida was exhausted and dozing off, but he flinched violently when Satou touched his arm. Seeing this makes it very hard for Satou to control himself and suppress his anger. He has the instinct to run off and punish those who thought they could touch what is his. 

Yoshida immediately relaxes when he realizes its Satou and whispers with remorse, “Sorry.” Then his hand quickly latched onto Satou’s sleeve. 

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault.” Satou states, somehow managing to keep his tone gentle and not laced with anger. 

Yoshida reluctantly lets go of Satou’s sleeve, so Satou can lean down and carry him again. Yoshida clings to his shirt and hides his face in Satou’s neck again. There are people in the street staring, but Satou couldn’t give a fuck. 

The rest of the walk to Yoshida’s place doesn’t take long, but in that short time Yoshida falls asleep from exhaustion. Satou spends that time thinking about revenge and vowing to protect Yoshida better in the future. 

When he arrives at Yoshida’s house, he struggles a bit to knock on the door with Yoshida still in his arms, and the pharmacy bag hanging from his wrist. When he finally manages to do so, Yoshida’s mother opens the door and blushes at the sight of Satou’s gorgeous face. Then she looks down and sees Yoshida in his arms looking pale and unwell. Her worry for her son, immediately pushes her attraction to Satou to the side.

“What happened?!” she exclaims. 

Yoshida shifts in Satou’s arms and groans in response to the loud noise. 

Satou hushes her and whispers, “I’ll tell you soon. I want to lay him down and take care of him first.” 

She wants to protest, but sees how Satou is looking down at her son with concerned, but compassionate eyes. They’ve only met once before briefly when he came to hang out with Yoshida, but unfortunately had to leave early. She was starstruck, but noticed he seemed kind, and was a new addition to Yoshida’s small group of friends. Yoshida doesn’t talk much about his school life, so she was a bit worried about him. But seeing how Satou is caring for him now, she thinks he might be in good hands. 

“Ok, but you better tell me everything when you are done,” she says with a stern look on her face. 

“I will. Thank you,” Satou says with a small smile on his face. This distracts her for a moment as she tries to stop herself from swooning over it. 

Satou quickly slips off his shoes, then walks past her and down the hall to get to Yoshida’s room. He tries to lay Yoshida down on the bed, but even asleep Yoshida clings to him. He sighs as he is leaning over awkwardly and trying not to crush Yoshida below him. He whispers to Yoshida to wake up and starts peppering kisses all over his face. Yoshida moans quietly and slowly comes back to consciousness. Yoshida is confused, disoriented from the pain and exhaustion. 

He quietly asks, “Satou?” 

But Satou can't decipher what he’s asking. So he just says, “Yeah, I’m right here.”

He leans back as far as he can with Yoshida still holding onto his shirt. 

He questions, “Could you let go for a moment? I need to patch you up.”

Yoshida lays still and stays silent, not letting go. His eyes communicating, ‘Please don’t make me.’ Satou just sighs, puts his hands underneath Yoshida’s back, and starts moving him to an upright position. He plans to lean him against the headboard. Yoshida whines in protest at the movement. 

Once he’s safely against the headboard, Satou easily takes Yoshida’s wrists and removes his hands from his body. Of course, he doesn’t want to do it, especially if it upsets Yoshida, but it needs to be done. Yoshida mourns the loss for a moment, but is quickly distracted by his boyfriend's hands moving towards the buttons of the jacket he’s borrowing. Yoshida tenses up and tries to get out of reach, but is trapped against the headboard. 

Satou gets one button undone, before Yoshida instinctively shouts, “NO!” 

Satou freezes and looks up in shock. Surprised, Yoshida was being so vocal all of a sudden. 

“What’s wrong?” Satou asks in concern. 

Yoshida mumbles something with his head down. 

“Sorry, can you repeat that?” Satou asks gently, with the hope that Yoshida responds to it better.

Yoshida speaks up a bit, but if Satou wasn’t already so close he would’ve never heard it. 

Eyes staring down at his lap, Yoshida whispers,”I don’t want you to.” 

“What don’t you want me to do?” Satou asks in confusion.

“Don’t look.” Yoshida replies, sounding as pitiful as he looks. 

Trying to reason with him, Satou says, “I’m sorry Yoshida, but I need to. You can’t get better if you don’t allow me to patch you up. Would you rather your mother did it?” 

Yoshida tenses up at the suggestion. Right now, he doesn’t want anyone near him except Satou. He doesn’t want to see his mother’s angry, worried face as she helps him. She’ll passionately rant about what happened to him, he’s sure. And he’s not ready to hear it. Based on Yoshida’s body language, Satou can tell the answer is no. 

“Ok, well how about a pain reliever and some water first?” Satou asks, and starts rummaging through the plastic bag to find them. 

Normally, Yoshida would protest against anything Satou tries to give him to digest, since he often plays pranks on him. Like giving him chocolate with habanero and wasabi in it. Then as he cries out for relief, Satou “helps” him by handing over soda. But he figures if there was any time Satou would mess with him, it wouldn’t be now. 

Yoshida watches as Satou pulls out two pills from a container and takes off the lid of the bottle for him to drink. Yoshida just opens his mouth as Satou places them on his tongue, then tilts the water bottle to his mouth. Yoshida swallows the pills and gently pushes the water away when he’s done drinking. Satou tries again to convince Yoshida to let him patch his body up. 

“Please, let me help you, Yoshida. It hurts me to see you in pain. This ointment will make you feel better. So please let me put it on.” Satou pleads in desperation. 

Yoshida really doesn't want him to, but he could never reject Satou when he’s being so open with him. 

“Ok,” he says reluctantly. 

Satou sighs in relief and pulls out the ointment and bandages. He puts them on the bed next to Yoshida’s side. Then he quickly starts unbuttoning the jacket as Yoshida sits tense and tries not to fight back. Sadly, Yoshida can’t help but try to protect his beaten body from being revealed. His hands instinctively hold the jacket closed when Satou is done unbuttoning it. Satou wants to distract and comfort him, so he kisses Yoshida on the lips gently, helping to relax his tense body some. That’s when he takes his chance to remove Yoshida’s hands and slide off the jacket. He can feel Yoshida become more rigid, while he’s still kissing him. And when he pulls back he sees Yoshida’s eyes are clenched tight, trying to avoid seeing Satou’s reaction. 

Satou had seen the damage before, but only vaguely, since he was more focused on getting Yoshida out of the warehouse. Now that he’s able to analyze the damage more closely, he struggles not to be overcome by the rage inside him. 

Yoshida’s stomach and side are heavily bruised. The bruise on Yoshida’s stomach is very blatantly shaped by someone’s footprint. Satou envisions someone stepping on his Yoshida and longs to crush them under his own feet. Yoshida’s left side is worse off, as it is completely black and blue, from being kicked over and over again. Satou easily imagines Yoshida curled up, scared, and trying to protect himself. The anger inside quickly increases to a dangerous level. Dark thoughts of revenge taking over and demanding he follow through with them. Lastly, he notices his arms and stomach are marked by long scratches, that he deduces are from the girls tearing his clothes off. Yoshida is still wearing his pants, but he wouldn’t be surprised if he found scratches on his legs as well. 

Satou is furious by the abuse inflicted on his lover and itches to leave and hurt them.  
But he knows it would be wrong to leave now, so he does his best to calm down, and tell himself he can have revenge later. Unable to look at Yoshida’s state without getting more angry, he closes his eyes and tries to focus on more positive emotions. 

He thinks about the insane amount of joy Yoshida has brought into his life. How cute Yoshida is everytime he protests and gets annoyed by his sadistic teasing. He thinks of how relieved he is that Yoshida chose to stay by his side, despite his many flaws. The fact that he is lucky enough to date his favorite is something he will never take for granted. 

Moments that he treasures pop into his head one after another. The time they had their first kiss and Yoshida’s adorable shocked face. When he said that Yoshida is his favorite and they kissed again. How Yoshida wondered why he stopped asking, “How do you feel about me?” And his beautiful blush when Satou told him he already knew the answer. He envisions Yoshida’s face when he turns and smiles at him as it always fills him with joy and butterflies. These precious moments are thankfully enough to bring Satou completely down from the rage he felt. Taking a slow, calming breath out, he opens his eyes to see Yoshida with his eyes still clenched closed. 

“Yoshida?” Satou asks gently. 

Yoshida’s shoulders tense more and he doesn’t respond. 

“Yoshida, it’s okay. Open your eyes, please. For me?” Satou says, hoping Yoshida will look at him and calm down as well. 

Yoshida hears the gentle request and slowly opens his eyes, partly with dread and partly with longing to look at his boyfriend again. When Yoshida’s vision clears, he’s surprised and immediately relieved by Satou’s expression. He feared seeing Satou’s anger or even worse pity. But Satou is smiling at him gently. The smile he never gives to any of the girls or other classmates. The one that’s only for him. Yoshida has to quickly look away and blink back tears. He misses seeing Satou frown as he does so. Satou looks at the wounds again and is reminded he was going to help heal his lover. 

“I’m going to put this ointment on ok?” Satou states, picking it up. 

Yoshida just nods, giving him permission. Satou takes off the lid and starts applying ointment to his front and sides. He tries his best to put as little pressure as possible, while doing so. Yoshida flinches and squirms during the process, but Satou doesn’t reprimand him. He reassures him that it’s almost done and kisses him on the lips. Then he leans back to wrap up his torso with bandages. 

“All done,” Satou states with relief. 

Satou is so glad it's over because he hated causing Yoshida pain, and everytime he flinched it made his heart ache. Realizing Yoshida needs something to cover up with, he gets up and looks around for a shirt for him. He rummages through one of Yoshida’s drawers and picks out a soft t-shirt that’ll be slightly baggy on him. He walks back to the bed and notices Yoshida was watching him. There was a moment when he saw some emotion he couldn’t identify in his eyes, along with pain and weariness. Their eyes meet and Yoshida quickly ducks his head to avoid his gaze. 

Sitting back on the bed, Satou pulls the shirt over Yoshida’s head and helps him put his arms through the sleeves. It is obvious to Satou that Yoshida is exhausted and sleepy as he is barely able to lift up his arms. Next, he pulls off his shoes and pants, which barely registers with Yoshida. 

“Lay down, I’ll tuck you in,” Satou says quietly. 

Yoshida sluggishly moves his body down the bed to lay his head on his pillow. Satou tucks his lover in and then kisses him on the forehead. He is about to walk away, but is stopped by a pull on his sleeve. 

“Don’t go,” Yoshida pleads, pulling at Satou’s heartstrings. 

“I’ll be right back, ok? I gotta go talk to your mom,” Satou replies, trying to sound firm and gentle at the same time. 

Yoshida frowns, but let’s go. Glad at least he won't have to explain it to her.

“Go to sleep, Yoshida.” Satou whispers, kissing him on the forehead again. 

Seeing Yoshida’s eyes close in exhaustion, Satou starts to walk away reluctantly. He doesn't wanna seperate from Yoshida, but he has to. He promised Yoshida’s mom he would tell her what happened. He takes one last look at his hurt, sleeping lover and then turns to gently close the bedroom door. 

Yoshida’s mom is waiting in the kitchen, pacing in worry. She startles slightly when he coughs to announce his presence. 

“What happened?!” she demands. 

Satou sighs and sits down at the kitchen table. Head in his hands he tells her what went down. He explains how the girls are jealous of Yoshida for always hanging out with him. How Nishida came and got him when he found Yoshida injured. Lastly, he mentions getting him supplies from the pharmacy and carrying him home, so he could patch him up. 

“I’m really worried about him. His wounds will heal, but I don’t know how he will feel after this mentally,” Satou says, staring at the table with regret. 

He looks up afterwards to see her reaction and is kinda surprised by how furious she looks. He has to remind himself that she is different from his own mother, in that she actually cares. Every mother should be concerned when their child is hurt, but his mother never was. But now that he’s lost weight, he knows she would be concerned if he came home beaten up. Only because she’d mourn his handsome body for being damaged. 

He snaps out of his thoughts at Yoshida’s mom stating, “I’ll end them,” with fire in her eyes. Satou feels a chill go down his spine at it. 

“I know you want revenge, I do too. I promise you, I won’t let them get away with it. When I find out which girls did it, we’ll get them expelled.” Satou says with conviction. 

He knows it's not a violent solution like he wants and he guesses Yoshida’s mom. But he can't get in trouble for hurting them. Yoshida needs me more than ever. He watches as Yoshida’s mom visibly tries to calm down at the plan and Satou’s confidence. Eventually, the rage is less visible and the fire in her eyes diminishes but still remains. 

“I’m glad Yoshida is so fortunate to have a friend like you!” she says smiling for the first time since he arrived. 

Satou blushes at the compliment and says, “It's really me who's the lucky one.” 

She beams at his statement. Then she proceeds to gush at how handsome he is. She thinks out loud, “How did Yoshida find such a catch?!” She then stops her rambling when she hears Satou’s stomach growl, who blushes more in embarrassment. 

She says,”Oh my, you must be hungry. Let me cook you something to eat!” And turns around to start making food. 

Satou would’ve protested, but he is hungry and he’s sure Yoshida needs some food too. He eats as they get to know each other a bit more and she tells him some stories about Yoshida. After they’re done, he grabs the leftover food for Yoshida and heads towards the bedroom. Yoshida’s mother made soup, because that’s what you make when people are sick, and she thinks it might go for injured people too. 

Entering the bedroom, Satou places the soup down on the bedside table and enjoys the endearing sight of Yoshida sleeping. A bit reluctantly, Satou wakes Yoshida up and then tries to feed him food. Unfortunately, Yoshida fights him on eating, saying he’s not hungry. Satou pleads with him and gives him a few kisses on his forehead. Yoshida eventually gives in and it’s totally not because of Satou’s puppy dog eyes. It’s not. 

After Yoshida eats the entire bowl of soup, with the encouragement from Satou, he gets tucked in again. Still incredibly exhausted, Yoshida falls asleep instantly, unable to beg Satou to stay like he wanted. Kissing him on the forehead, Satou leaves the room knowing he’ll have to walk home in the dark. 

He’s heading for the front door when Yoshida’s mother stops him and offers him to stay over. He accepts and says he’s ok with sleeping on the couch, not wanting her to go through the effort of setting up the futon. Especially when he plans to sneak into Yoshida’s room later. Laying in the dark with a blanket on top of him, he waits an appropriate amount of time for Yoshida’s mom to fall asleep. Then he gets up and quietly sneaks into Yoshida’s bed, where Yoshida snuggles up to him in his sleep. Satou gently holds Yoshida close to his chest and falls asleep easily, knowing his lover is safe in his arms.


	3. Healing

In the morning, Satou leaves before Yoshida wakes up and heads to school with determination. Other girls walking to school are confused by him walking from a different direction than normal. Quickly, rumors spread that he was staying at another girl’s house. Nobody is able to question him about it though, because Satou doesn’t bother pretending to be nice or letting any gossiping girls surround him like usual. He glares at any girl who tries to approach him and scares them off with his threatening aura. The guys are also afraid to approach and wonder what happened to get him in such a bad mood. 

Satou is mad and suspicious of every female. He’s determined to find the culprits who hurt his lover today, no matter the cost. Surprisingly, he doesn’t need to put in any effort to find out who did it. Before the bell even rings, Nishida comes to talk to him and tells him he already reported them after finding out who was on cleaning duty then. He tells Satou that he should go to the principal’s office and make a statement as a witness as well. Satou nods his head at Nishida gratefully and skips class to head towards the principal’s office. 

Talking to the principal and vice principal leads to their immediate expulsion, which satisfies Satou greatly. Normally, the school would wait for a statement from the victim and some evidence of the assault. Then they’d investigate it further to make sure they were making the right decision. They skip all these steps because of Satou. Satou is the main reason their school is thriving, since so many females are desperate to get accepted. 

So when Satou threatens to leave the school if they don’t expel them, and says he’ll take Yoshida as well, their blood runs cold in fear. They couldn’t care less if Yoshida left, but are desperate to keep Satou, so they immediately agree. After the girls are expelled, Satou uses his break to call Yoshida’s mother and tell her the news. He tells her to make sure to let Yoshida know as well. 

Word quickly gets around about what happened. Tons of people are concerned about Yoshida and ask how he is, knowing Satou would know. Some girls ask just because they want to talk to Satou and get back on his good side. But some genuinely care and those are the only ones he actually answers. Yoshida’s closest friends, Akimoto and Mikimura are the two most worried. He tells them he’s healing and that he’ll be back soon. Although, he doesn’t know how true that is. 

Eventually Yoshida comes back to school, wounds on his body and heart still healing.  
Satou hovers over Yoshida, who can’t bounce back like he used to. Yoshida is more reserved and gives small, polite smiles to concerned classmates. This makes Satou’s hands clench in fury, yearning to punish the girls who hurt Yoshida. While the thought of beating them himself is tempting, he could be expelled or sent to jail. And Yoshida needs him by his side more than ever. 

Watching Yoshida closely, Satou notices him flinching when initially touched. And how he cuddles with a look of guilt and pain on his face. Satou wonders if the girls did anything else to him, but he can’t bring himself to ask. He doesn’t want to upset Yoshida even more. 

A couple days later…

It’s a rainy day after school as they enter Satou’s house. Both of them are drenched from the rain. Satou looks at Yoshida’s clothes that are sticking to his form, and instead of finding it sexy like in the past, it worries him. Yoshida looks slimmer than before. And he was already so thin to begin with. 

Soon Yoshida is standing in just his boxers after peeling off his soaked clothes. Gently, Satou puts his hand on his chest. Yoshida flinches, but says nothing, even when Satou pushes him to sit on the edge of the bed. Satou kneels in front of the bed and kisses his bruises, which are green and yellow from healing. When he kisses the largest bruise from getting repeatedly kicked in the side, Yoshida’s breath hitches. Satou looks up from where he’s kneeling to see Yoshida with his head down, eyes tightly closed, and biting his lip. 

He tells him to, “Open your eyes.” 

Yoshida can’t deny him. He opens his eyes, which are teary and filled with sorrow. The sight causes Satou’s heart to clench and ache. 

Yoshida finally confesses with pain, “They said I’m disgusting.” 

Satou inhales sharply and briefly recalls being bullied himself. 

Yoshida continues, “They said that you only keep me around because it’s amusing. Because you feel bad for me. Why else would somebody like ME, get to be around you?” 

Yoshida’s last question sounds serious, so Satou answers him. He gently pushes Yoshida to lay on his back, who goes willingly. Then he starts complimenting Yoshida while he kisses his body, bruised or otherwise. 

“You are my favorite, Yoshida. You always have been,” Satou says, placing gentle kisses on his face. 

“You are strong,” Satou states, lightly kissing his bruises. 

“You are my hero. You saved me from the darkness and made life so much brighter by being in it,” he says before kissing his chest and arms. He notices Yoshida’s body has started to tremble, but he continues. 

“You are beautiful,” he whispers, looking at Yoshida’s tear filled eyes and trembling body. Which is overwhelmed by Satou’s words. 

“You are precious to me,” he says, kissing him directly over his heart.

He lifts up his leg to kiss his inner thigh tenderly, and looks straight in his eyes to finish with, “I love you, Yoshida.” 

Yoshida just chokes on a sob that he’s been trying to hold back, tears running down his face. Satou leans forward to kiss his forehead and his cheeks. Then he licks away his tears and gives him a soft kiss on the lips. 

Overwhelmed with emotions, Yoshida wraps his arms around Satou’s neck, surprising him, and intensifying the kiss. He lets Yoshida lead the kiss before he takes over. Eventually, they slow down and Yoshida sinks into the mattress as he pulls away reluctantly. 

He looks up at Satou and quietly replies, “I love you, too.” 

Satou gives a small, genuine smile, making Yoshida’s heart flutter. They both lay down to cuddle, drawing comfort in each other’s arms. 

Yoshida thinks, “I’m so grateful Satou can make me feel safe and loved. I have doubts sometimes, but Satou will always catch me and make me feel wanted again. He’s my favorite and I’m his. It doesn’t matter if the world may disapprove. If Satou desires me, then it’s all I need. Because in his arms, I’m beautiful.”


End file.
